Novorossiysk Naval Base
Site ID
This location is the Russian Navy’s Novorossiysk naval base on Tsemess (Novorossiysk) Bay in Krasnodar Krai, subordinate to the Black Sea Fleet. CNA’s 2021 force study states that Russia began building the base as a hedge against possible future loss of Crimea basing access, and that the Black Sea Fleet uses Sevastopol and Novorossiysk as its two main Black Sea ports. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/08/Russian-Forces-in-the-Southern-Military-District.pdf))
Basing Infrastructure
Public Russian reporting from September 2014 described the submarine pier zone at Novorossiysk as sized for eight submarines, with seven planned for the base, and said the basing complex was to be fully completed by late 2016. The same reporting emphasized military sealift from Novorossiysk to Crimea and Syria and argued that submarine departures from Novorossiysk were more concealed than from Sevastopol. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/politika/1461108))
Resident Forces
Authoritative secondary analysis identifies Novorossiysk as the Black Sea Fleet’s main subsurface hub: CNA places there the 4th submarine brigade, the 136th counter-sabotage detachment, rescue and hydrographic elements, and the 184th water-area protection brigade. TASS’s Project 636.3 dossier ties the six Black Sea Fleet Improved Kilo boats to this basing program, and Russian fleet reporting states that B-261 Novorossiysk reached its permanent base there in September 2015 while B-237 Rostov-na-Donu returned to its permanent base at Novorossiysk in February 2022. ([cna.org](https://www.cna.org/reports/2021/08/Russian-Forces-in-the-Southern-Military-District.pdf))
Operational Role
Novorossiysk has become more than a secondary harbor. ISW assessed from satellite imagery and other reporting that, after Ukrainian strikes degraded Sevastopol’s usability, Russia shifted Black Sea Fleet surface combatants and submarines to Novorossiysk on an enduring basis and sought a more permanent eastern-Black-Sea basing pattern; ISW also assessed in April 2024 that Novorossiysk infrastructure had been improved enough to support cruise-missile loading there. ([understandingwar.org](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukrainian-strikes-have-changed-russian-naval-operations-black-sea?utm_source=openai))
Threats and Confidence
The base is operationally important but not a sanctuary: on 4 August 2023, Ukrainian sea-drone attacks damaged the landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak near Novorossiysk, with Reuters/CNN/AP-linked reporting treating the strike as proof that mainland Black Sea Fleet basing remained vulnerable. In the high-confidence sources reviewed for this briefing, the submarine force and the 136th counter-sabotage detachment are clearly corroborated; I did not find equally strong independent confirmation for the placemark labels "1066th Technical Service Center" or "314th Rescue Ship Detachment," so those are treated as unverified here. ([kfgo.com](https://kfgo.com/2023/08/04/russian-navy-vessel-damaged-in-drone-attack-ukrainian-source/?utm_source=openai))